Search - P.J. Proby :: Very Best of

A Voice to Cry For.....

Niall Lovejoy | UK | 12/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This excellent EMI Gold compilation shows PJ Proby at his best, in my opinion. The album contains twenty of his finest vocal performances and all are the orignal and top quality recordings.I was only a small child when PJ Proby,(real name, James Smith), split his trousers in 1965, on-stage at an English ABC theatre. The moral outrage this unfortunate accident caused at the time is well-documented. Proby's immediate career also suffered as a result with quite a few of his future U.K. bookings cancelled by nervous promoters. Nowadays, it is hard to believe what all the fuss was about!My personal favourite tracks on the CD are 'Maria' and 'Somewhere'-PJ's interpretations of the West Side Story numbers. His performance of these two wonderful songs moves me to tears (for good reasons!)That was the effect his voice could produce in his fans. Most of his UK hits are included. If you go for the more raunchy side of Proby's output, you'll be well catered for too, with classics like 'Hold Me', and 'Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu', also included.Jim Proby had/has a fantastically powerful and emotionally charged voice, unique in style when he wanted it to be. He could also sound like Elvis Presley when the mood took him too. He pours his very heart and soul into his performances. PJ was equally at home with a raunchy Rock & Roll number as with a classic ballard. This album shows off than diverse range of vocal talents perfectly.Sadly, PJ Proby never quite reached the superstar status he really deserved, possibly due to his sometimes troubled private life. Personally, he is my favourite male solo singer of his generation. He should be remembered for far more than torn pants! Thankfully, PJ Proby is still performing his craft around Britain and elsewhere to appreciative audiences and from what I've heard, is still on top-form vocally, despite all those high-living years his voice is still strong. I strongly recommend this album to those who know his work and those who don't"

An American who became a British success

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 09/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"P J Proby (born James Marcus Smith) had the raw talent to be hailed as a megastar across the world but he also had an uncanny knack of creating problems for himself. After failing to establish himself in his American homeland, Jack Good of Liberty records took him to the UK, where he had a string of hits, some of which also charted in America though he never made any real impact there. P J is generally remembered as a balladeer but he could rock too.



Following three UK top ten hits (all covers of old songs) beginning in the summer of 1964, he looked set for a long run of success when he did a live show in which his trousers split. In view of this episode, it is slightly amusing to read the titles of his first five UK hits in sequence. The first three (Hold me, Together, Somewhere) were followed by another cover (I apologise), which just missed the UK top ten. Next came another top twenty hit (Let the water run down) followed by a top thirty hit (That means a lot). Of these singles, Hold me was his biggest hit but Somewhere (a cover of the West side story classic) is the song the P J is best remembered for.



Following those singles, P J covered another West side story song (Maria), which became his fourth and last UK top ten hit. His UK chart history is completed by four lesser hits (You've come back, To make a big man cry, I can't make it alone, It's your day today), the last of these being in early 1968.



All these hits are here together with several other songs that show just how talented P J was. I should just warn those unfamiliar with his music that his covers were sometimes a bit over the top - not everybody will appreciate his versions of Somewhere and Maria - but this was the sixties, remember. Think of Phil Spector's Christmas album, in which classic songs were given a sixties production. After a slow start, that collection is now regarded as a classic. P J's music has not achieved the same status, for whatever reason, but he should have done. If only he hadn't split those trousers - we can just wonder what might have been.



P J has continued to perform, sometimes in musicals, more recently touring with the Troggs and Herman's Hermits. He also continues to record albums but you must check his official website for those."

Best of PJ Proby

TCK | 03/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The only reason it didn't get five stars was the fact that his best known song..(Nicky Hokie)was not on this CD."